This blog supports LibraryThing's 999 challenge group. Read 9 books each in 9 different categories, all read in 2009. For an added challenge, try completing your books by 9/9/09!

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Princess Academy by Shannon Hale (8/81)

High on the side of rocky Mount Eskel, far from the valleys where gardens are green and lush, where lowlanders make laws, Miri’s family has lived forever, pounding a living from the stone of the mountain itself. For as long as she can remember, Miri has dreamed of working alongside the other villagers in the quarries of her beloved mountainside. But Miri has never been allowed to work there, perhaps, she thinks, because she is so small.Then word comes from the valley that the king's priests have divined Mount Eskel to be the home of the prince’s bride-to-be—the next princess. The prince himself will travel to the village to choose her, but first all eligible girls must attend a makeshift mountain academy to prepare themselves for royal lowlander life. At the school, Miri soon finds herself confronted by bitter competition among the girls and her own conflicting desires to be chosen by the prince. Yet when danger comes to the academy and threatens all their lives, it is Miri, named for a tiny mountain flower, who must find a way to save her classmates—and the one chance to leave the mountain each of them is determined to secure as her own.From acclaimed author Shannon Hale comes the Newbery Honor-winning novel about would-be princesses and one small but determined girl's destiny.

OK I am going through a teen stage ... This is my second book with Shannon Hale and I have to say I loved this one as well ...

It is a very easy read and any young girl will love this book ... I would love to actually see this novel made into a movie along with The Book of a Thousand Days they would be so good ...

The story is about a young girl called Miri and her time at the "Princess Academy" where the young ladies are getting taught how to be a Princess where at the end of one year of training one of the lucky girls will be chosen by the Prince to marry ... It tells of her adventures there and the friendships that are forged ... Will Miri be the lucky girl who wins the Princes Heart and change her families life forever? ..... Miri is named after a Mountain Flower that is foundon Mount Eskel, an isolated territory in the Danland kingdom.

PRINCESS ACADEMY is well-written story of one girl's determination to show that even a small mountain flower can be just as valuable as a gold crown if not more.

I enjoyed this book but not as much as The Book of a Thousand Days ... But I have no doubt that my daughter will love this .... Romance, Bandits and Princes what more could you ask for ...